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Originally Posted by Welpe
Robert is first touching considered a penalty though?
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No, good point, it's a choice without being considered a penalty, and it doesn't offset a foul by the other team. Like incomplete pass.
Probably that statement (i.e. not a particular rules provision, but the "fundamental") was put in because there were times when there were loss-of-ball penalties. The last of those in USAn ball I know of was eliminated in 1970 (give or take a year) by NCAA when fouls during certain loose balls had the loss of ball provision removed from the penalty. Likewise there was a statement about incomplete forward passes not offsetting a foul by the other team because at certain times there were penalties for incomplete (and not necessarily intentionally so) forward passes. (There were a couple of years in the 1940s in NCAA where a 2nd incomplete pass in a series of downs was penalized by loss of down & 10 yards from the previous spot.)
Robert